Staten Island EMT saves apparent Verrazano jumper

CITY HALL -- Staten Island EMT Lana Hagai may have saved one life even before getting to work on Wednesday.

The FDNY medical technician convinced an apparently suicidal man from jumping off a fence on an overpass to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge during her morning commute.

"I'm always on the clock -- I'm always watching out and looking to help somebody," Hagai said. "I felt like I was at work already."

The Willowbrook resident was driving her motorcycle to work in Brooklyn just before 7 a.m. when she saw a man climbing a 10-foot high chain-link fence on the overpass leading to the lower-level of the bridge.

The drop is about 40 to 50 feet from the top of the fence -- and Hagai worried the man wanted to hurt himself.

"I see people in desperate situations all the time, so I knew that's what he was doing," Hagai said.

She pulled over. As the man reached the top of the fence Hagai began asking him to come down.

"I said, 'Please don't do this,'" Hagai said. "I asked two more times and then he finally came down."

The whole encounter didn't last more than a couple minutes.

By the time the man was safely off of the fence, two other Good Samaritans stopped to assist Hagai. She was able to call 911 for an ambulance while they sat with him.

The FDNY said the man, in his 40s, was taken to Richmond University Medical Center for evaluation.

Hagai said she hopes the man will find a way out of this difficult time.

"Whether or not it was me that stopped him -- he wanted a reason to stop," she said. "I'm just happy he didn't jump and I hope he feels better."

Hagai, assigned to EMS Station 32 in Carrol Gardens, was humble about what she did.

"In uniform, out of uniform, EMS, FDNY, everyday people do random acts of kindness every day and it makes the world a better place," she said.